Tag Archives: #priorities

I’ve said it before to numerous people over the years, that you can’t take it too personally when someone else doesn’t put as high a priority to the thing that you put at a premium, be it an item, activity, cause, hobby, fandom, or other interest. No two people are exactly alike and not everyone is going to have the same priorities as you. While you may feel hurt in that discovery, it isn’t usually a rejection of you personally, even if it may feel like it is.

Sometimes though, it is harder to not feel that kind of personal rejection or hurt when you find that someone you thought had the same high priority as you on that thing actually does not, or at least does not in the same manner as you. In those instances, it is very difficult to not take it as a rejection of not the thing you prioritize, but you personally.

(So here’s the part where if I was #vaguebooking I would say something like, “This post has no conclusion so that you can jump to your own.” Heh.)

Not sure I even have a takeaway here. Maybe it’s “You do you,” or “Keep on keeping on,” or “Haters gonna hate.” I’m unsure that those are all 100% relevant or correct. Maybe instead the takeaway is to take a look at the man in the mirror and make a change, to paraphrase the King of Pop, though I’m not sure that’s entirely warranted either.

Maybe the point here isn’t for you from the standpoint of the person with the higher priority on the thing that feels let down. Maybe the takeaway is that to remember that it isn’t a fun feeling when that happens to you. Inevitably you’re going to be the one who doesn’t have as high a priority on a thing as a friend or coworker or fellow enthusiast, and you should be upfront and honest about things to help minimize that feeling they’re going to feel when they find out what they value so highly isn’t as important to you as it is to them. So they don’t felt strung along, or devalued, or that their worth is somehow less than they believed it to be. Because we’ve all been there at some point or another. A Scout is Kind, after all.

Unless of course you’re a narcissistic sociopath. In which case, I bet you’ll think this post is about you, to paraphrase another famous pop star.